For Professionals: Two iPhones? (One Work, One Personal)

[Ste Nova]

I carry 2 phones at all times, its much simpler keeping them seperate

 

[Breaking Good]

resurrecting this to ask those of you with 2 iPhones - how do you handle apps installed on both iPhones, syncing, notifications, etc.? its pretty annoying to have to deal with it having an iPhone and iPad and i would assume the same for you guys. any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

My employer uses Good for Enterprise. All work e-mails and contacts are kept in this app. I can log into my personal iTunes account and download whatever I want to the iPhone. Of course, I have to pay for it myself. But I bought Navigon for my personal phone so I also loaded it onto my work iPhone.

 

[Wicked1]

Hey guys,

I keep going back and forth on this. I was wondering if I could get the thoughts of the professionals on this forum.

I am a real estate agent, and the past two years, I've been blessed to be a busy one. I used to have one cell phone that combined my work and personal. I do not have an office phone (never in the office - my MBP is my mobile office), and my business card only has my cell phone.

I struggle with time management. After 7 or 8pm on a Tuesday night, I have a challenge shutting the "business" down and entering my personal life. For instance, at 9pm, if I want to pick up the phone and call my friend or girlfriend, I'll see a missed call or email from a client or agent I'm working with. I'll want to know what that person said or wants, and then that leads to me either calling them back or emailing them back. Then I check my email and see I have new ones...I continue working.

I got a real estate coach a few months ago who told me that I need to get a second cell phone and "shut down" the business at 7 or 8pm. Just leave the phone at home or turn it off, and don't check it again until the morning.

I did it - my second line is the iPhone 5, my first (business) is the 4S. I gave out the number to my girlfriend and 4 close friends.

I was wondering: how many professionals keep the business and personal cells separate? I feel like most of my friends and colleagues only have one phone and think I'm crazy for getting the second line (it certainly is tougher to keep going back and forth between the two rather than checking the one inbox of voicemails).

Thanks so much!

Working in IT security we all struggle with the same issue here at my company, however I do not have a choice like you.

We used to have personal phones and company BlackBerry's I hated those phones but we needed them. Company decided to allow us to use our personal and expense a good portion of the bill while accessing Exchange emails as well.

Option A

Now the new company policy is you are allowed to use your personal phone as long as you put BES10 on it, designed by Fusion it has the ability to track everything you are doing, and it is like having big brother on your back, you also can not connect it to iCloud, and no music or apps that do not meet companies specs.

Option B

Keep your personal but it can not connect to the company network, or order a company owned and controlled iPhone 5 or BB Z10.

I decided to order a IP5 for work, figured having two devices that can share accessories makes more sense. I use the work phone strictly for work, and personal for personal.

Herein lies my issue:

Not on call this week, but still need to have the phones with me, do my personal things on my IP5, and access email and receive calls. Thought I could just forward my work number to my personal, however I still would not be able to access work email.

Some folks here refuse to carry 2 phones, and will not put the software on their personal (this is the choice I made BC you can not be JB and I am).

Some people said ok if this is the way it is going to be, then I will no longer access work email on my personal phone, and they expense up to $80 for the monthly use of voice to send and receive calls.

We are in between a rock and hard place because if you have a work phone, they monitor what apps you have, if you have music they make you remove it, and Fusion tracks everything you do, where you go, what you access, IMO too controlling to be on a personal phone, but now carrying 2 phones is a PITA (Pain in the @$$)

I am going to return the company IP5 and let them give it to someone else, and go back to my personal, expense the voice calls and use Exchange OWA to access email, as much of a pain that is, it is my only option.

Hope this helps

 

[MVRL]

I only use 1 phone, but i keep family/friends and work separate mentally. If it's work related non-emergency, I just ignore it.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

I only use 1 phone, but i keep family/friends and work separate mentally. If it's work related non-emergency, I just ignore it.

I need to get better at this.

My girlfriend had a long chat with me yesterday after I brought up that this thread was resurrected. She says it drives her crazy to call two numbers, text two numbers, etc. Didn't realize it'd stress her out!

IGNORE the work calls, not hide the work phone entirely. Interesting...

Like an earlier poster said, it's all about what works for you. I'm still figuring that out!

 

[2sa]

I am in this boat soon as well. I have a personal Verizon iPhone 4 and company is sending a iPhone 5 with a new number (no porting). I just cannot see carrying 2 phones with my job and obviously the iPhone 5 will give me LTE and many features I have been missing and likely to become my main device. I understand I can port my current personal number to GV, but what about text? Is there any way to keep my grandfathered unlimited data? Can the data plan be transferred to a iPad?

 

[mhdena]

I have a google voice number, and use that for business contacts. One phone, 2 numbers.

^^^

Its not complicated, this is much easier than using 2 phones

imo

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I can't believe some of you are suggesting Google voice. It is unethical to use Google now that you are with Apple and have an iPhone 5. Please stay away from Google. All they want is your information.

A little (well ok a lot) apple fanboy dramatic are you

 

[ladydub]

Hello all.. resurrecting this thread again!!

I'm in the same boat as the OP. Recently joined family real estate business. I have a personal line that I've had for 10+ years and in the last year also got a business line with an iphone 5 (paid by company). Both Verizon and my personal line is a legacy unlimited data plan.

I have found it REALLY annoying to juggle two phones so far. But a lot of that is probably because my personal phone is an old blackberry and the battery lasts for about 10 min, so it's always off! However, I'm determined to make it work. My mother has been in the business for 35 years and has one line. Now that she's beginning a long "wind-down" process and turning things over she's traveling a lot but cannot ever really get away. So, it's not just turning things off at night, but EVER having the ability to go on a true vacation and still be able to get calls from friends and family.

I really don't want to lose the unlimited data plan on my personal line, so I'm going to ebay to buy either a second iphone 5 or a galaxy s4. I've always wanted to try the galaxy. My question is...if I'm trying to simplify having two phones, should I just stick with two iphone 5's (same accessories, apps, etc)? Can you sync things between phones, like calendars and certain apps? I assume it would be easier for backup, icloud, photo streams. Or are the benefits of having both an iphone and droid worth it?

I've also thought about trying to google voice, but I just don't think it has the functionality I need. To be honest, I've never used it, but a colleague does and I find that it can be awkward when I call her. Clients are constantly texting me photos, so if that's still not an option it's a deal breaker. Also, I too am afraid of them getting rid of it. If they got rid of Reader, nothing is safe as far as I'm concerned (except gmail of course)!

Anyway, just looking for opinions, advice, etc. Would be nice if there was one phone out there that was truly "dual-line" where you could independently manage both and forward one when you wanted to go on vacation. I'm sort of surprised this doesn't exist!

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Is there any way to keep my grandfathered unlimited data? Can the data plan be transferred to a iPad?

Also, 2sa, did you find out if you can transfer your unlimited plan to an ipad? I'm assume they would not do that?

 

[mhdena]

You have not even tried google voice yet you don't think it will work?

Ha#

It's worked for me the last 4 years just fine as a business line

 

[ladydub]

You have not even tried google voice yet you don't think it will work?

Honestly, it just came on my radar recently and I already had the business line. I will look into it more. However, having a consistent phone number in real estate is a big deal. I could see using Google Voice for certain applications. One for signs and marketing to direct those calls. And one for property management tenants for repairs, etc. Certainly could have some great applications even if it was not my primary business line. However, I would be really afraid they would can it and then I'd be up a creek with the number all over town and no more GV!

 

[aneftp]

I carry 2 phones at all times, its much simpler keeping them seperate

This. I've been doing this the past 6-7 years. Originally carries blackberry and iPhone. Than was carrying any android and an iPhone.

The best thing about it is I never have to worry about battery life! If one phone battery dies. I got a backup phone immediately.

 

[ladydub]

The best thing about it is I never have to worry about battery life! If one phone battery dies. I got a backup phone immediately.

Definite bonus. I love my iphone, but when you are really using it, the battery goes QUICK! Definitely my biggest complaint in addition to not being able to close all apps at once!